| Do you know if the Gates foundation, Kiva or GiveWell have done any research into the effect of a Basic Income (i.e. giving everyone in a country a small amount of money with no strings attached)? It kind of falls slightly outside the realm of charity, more a Government intervention, but it's also the kind of intervention that I'd expect these rational charities to be interested in. edit: Looks like GiveWell are interested in the concept: http://blog.givewell.org/2009/05/20/why-not-just-give-out-ca... "Why do cash handouts seem to be so rare in the charity world? Perhaps it’s because extensive experience and study have shown this approach to be inferior to others. Or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that giving out cash fundamentally puts the people, rather than the charity, in control." That's exactly the kind of harsh but almost certainly true commentary I'd expect from a true charity watchdog. My esteem for GiveWell has gone up a few notches as a result. And one of their charities is a charitable version of the concept (though with major differences e.g. it's one-off, limited to the very poor etc.): http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/give-dir... |